The report has divided the vehicles examined into categories, as below:
CITY CARS AND ENTRY LEVEL: Eleven cars
The new Datsun GO is a clear winner here with a parts basket of R37 631 (and a low selling price of R102 500). It’s a great first-time purchase, making owning a new car affordable. It may lack a few refinements like ABS brakes and airbags, but it’s a solid little vehicle for basic transport. Second overall in parts is the Nissan Micra at R44 479 (both of these, sourced from India) and third is the Polo Vivo at R49 805.
Best for servicing parts is the fourth-placed Ford Figo, followed by the Micra and Spark. The GO shines in repair parts and crash parts with Micra second and Figo third in repair parts and GO, Micra and Polo Vivo taking the top three spots in crash parts.
SUPER MINI: Ten cars
The Renault Sandero (R65 517) narrowly pips the Fiat 500 (R65 738) with the Peugeot a not-too distant third, with a parts basket of R67 463.
The least expensive car to service is the seventh-placed Polo, some R250 less than the Sandero in second place, followed by the Fiat.
In the repair portion you are better off with a Fiat 500, while accident parts costs are lowest for the Sandero, followed by the Peugeot 208 and Fiat.
FAMILY FAVOURITES: Nine cars
A pair of real family favourites, two Toyota Corollas take 1st and 2nd – the Prestige just edging out the Quest at R67 078 and R69 466. Third is the Alfa Giulietta, which always seems to surprise with its competitiveness.
Most economical to service is the VW Golf 7, (sixth overall) followed by the Hyundai Elantra, both substantially less than the Corollas.
In the repair section, the Elantra and Kia Cerato are tops, with the Golf in third spot.
The Corollas come into their own with substantially less expensive crash parts, over R15 000 better than the third-placed Alfa. It’s important that if the purchase price of a vehicle is comparatively low that the crash parts are inexpensive to avoid reaching the write-off point. With any insurance you are still better off repairing than writing-off the vehicle as you are seldom paid out enough to replace your vehicle and end up having to pay in a considerable amount. The Alfa, with a more expensive selling price, is one of only two cars in the survey with a parts basket to selling price percentage of under 20 percent.
COMPACT CROSSOVER: Four vehicles
The Toyota Avanza heads up this class with a parts basket of R67 786, ahead of the Ford Eco Sport, one of the latest one-litre turbo engine vehicles. Third is the Renault Duster, which is the least expensive vehicle to service, followed by the Avanza and new Citroën Cactus 1.2 (4th).
The Avanza is substantially less pricey for both repair and crash parts, with the Renault Duster second in repair parts and the Eco Sport second in crash parts. Citroën has come up with an innovative idea to deal with minor scratches – the Cactus has plastic panels on the sides of the vehicle, which are capable of absorbing impacts of about three km/h, like supermarket trolley damage. These can be individually replaced when necessary.
CROSSOVER: Ten vehicles
Toyota’s Fortuner heads the list here once more with a parts basket of R77 413 compared with the second-placed Kia Sportage at R92 992 and the Toyota Rav4 at R97 708. Most economical Crossover to service is the Mitsubishi ASX followed by the Hyundai ix35 and the Nissan X Trail.
Repair cost honours go to the Fortuner just ahead of the Chevrolet Trailblazer (4th overall), both well ahead of the third-placed Kia Sportage.
Fortuner is also the most economical in the crash parts section by close to R14 000, followed by the Sportage and Rav4. As a percentage of basket price to selling price, the Fortuner has the lowest figure in the survey at 16 percent.
EXECUTIVE CROSSOVER: Seven vehicles.
These are the real top dog SUVs and I felt they warranted a class of their own. Priced at over R750 000 and all automatic, the parts prices are probably more of academic than economic interest to their owners, but might be an eye-opener to many others of us.
The winner here is the Volvo XC 90 with a total parts basket price of R164 508, followed by the Audi Q7 and close on its heels, the Toyota Prado. All these vehicles have extensive service plans and it is only if they are kept for a long time or run up very high mileages that the cost of servicing could become an issue.
Volvo has the lowest service parts cost at R4 810, followed by the Range Rover Evoque (4th) and the Prado.
In the repair section, the Evoque has the least expensive basket ahead of the Quattro and the Volvo. The Toyota Prado is severely hampered by having very expensive shock absorbers, which make the repair basket the most expensive of the group, but is able to pull back to a competitive position by having the least costly crash parts ahead of the Volvo and Audi.
DOUBLE CABS: Eight vehicles
Here, three countries of origin compete for the top position. India wins with the Tata Xenon (basket price of R58 527) followed by Japan with the Toyota Hilux Raider (R85 986) and China’s GWM Steed 6 (R89 437). The GWM has the most competitive service costs at R2 269 ahead of the Tata and Isuzu KB300 (4th overall).
Repair parts winner is the VW Amarok – though it must be noted here that most Amarok D/C sales are with automatic gearboxes, so there are no clutch, pressure plate and flywheel prices on the list, as with the manual transmissions. GWM comes second.
Crash parts sees Tata Xenon the clear winner by more than R20 000 on second-placed Toyota Raider.
SINGLE CABS: Eight vehicles
We are not exactly comparing apples with apples here, since we have included two, half-tonne bakkies with six full tonners. The Nissan NP200, with a parts basket of R47 026, just pips its larger brother NP300 Hardbody for first spot. Third is the other “small fry,” the Chevrolet Utility 1.4 Club.
Servicing honours go to Nissan Hardbody, a scant R23 from the NP200 with the Chevrolet Utility in third. The Chevrolet Utility retaliates by having the best repair parts basket ahead of the two Nissans. And, in the crash parts it’s the two Nissans in first and second position again.
However, it is interesting to look at the rest of the bakkies in this section – the one-tonners - the Isuzu 250 leads the Toyota Hilux, Mazda BT 50, Ford Ranger 2.2 and VW Amarok.
EXECUTIVE SALOONS: Seven cars
The first three places are very closely contested – R2 500 separated them in their parts basket prices. Leader is the BMW 320i, followed by the Audi A4 and The Infiniti Q50, which is a first-timer in the Kinsey Report.
All these vehicles are automatic, so there are no pricey clutch and flywheel costs. Audi comes out top in the servicing section ahead of the Infiniti and all the cars are within a thousand rand, or so. The repair portion has the Infiniti well ahead with a larger range of costs. The crash parts costs reflect the overall basket – first to the BMW, second to the Audi and third to the Infinity.
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